Where I grew up, "backward" often referred to the problem of being
a slow learner, or perhaps too shy, or hesitant in performance.

When teaching second grade here in Kansas many years ago, one of my students
was a darling little "backward" child. Everything was accomplished –
but several weeks later than the others.

At a parent-teacher conference the mother asked if I had noticed this factor.
Yes, of course. "It was a premature birth," the mother explained,
"my little one learns alright, it just takes longer. The doctor said it
won't always be this way. There will be a caught-up time."

A teacher was being taught. Excellent! I was thankful for the helpful
information. The right "mechanism" was there just needing patience as
it matured.

This morning while making our bed I noticed the hand-wound alarm clock was
upside down and backward. I set it upright, facing the room. Ticking? Yes.
Correct time? Absolutely.

Hmm –

I suddenly recalled my little student, and examined my own position in life.
Do various physical difficulties interfere with expected performance? Of course,
but that is not degrading to who I am unless I allow it to be.

Once again I place myself at Jesus' feet for His enabling touch; for strength
for the day; for recognition of His abiding Presence.

"For the Lord Himself will come down from heaven . . . and the dead
in Christ will rise first. After that, we who are still alive and are left will
be caught up with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will
be with the Lord forever. Thereafter encourage each other with these
words." I Thessalonians 4:16-18

Keep on ticking fellow Christians, and when that moment comes we'll be
"right-side up" with the Heavenly Father. Hallelujah!

* Hymn, "The Cleansing Wave" by Phoebe P. Knapp
(1839-1908)

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